A Vision in Red
by Leisey
Summary: Marinette was beautiful, even when she slept.


_Here's my first attempt at angst. If you don't like blood and death, turn away now._

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 **A Vision in Red**

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Marinette was beautiful, even when she slept.

Adrien never wanted to let her go. Well, he was of the mind that no sane person would ever want to let Marinette Dupain-Cheng go. Anyone with brains would hold her tight and never let her out of their arms.

Which is what Adrien was currently doing, with Marinette's head resting peacefully in his lap as she slept. He ran one hand continuously through her hair while the other held her to him.

"It's time to wake up, My Lady," he said.

They knew who each other were. The reveal had come with their miraculouses timing out, a lot of pointing and screaming and a few choice swear words thrown in for effect. A brilliant combination of, "AHH! It's you! Holy shit!" that culminated in the best day of Adrien's life.

Because how could it not be? Finding out that the girl he was in love with and the girl from his class that he maybe – sort of – _definitely_ – had feelings for were the same person?

Ladybug was a vision in red. Beautiful, kind, intelligent, brave, funny, charming, witty, badass, awesome. Marinette was a vision in pink, all those same things that Ladybug was, it just took him a little longer to realise it. When Adrien finally became aware that he had feelings for the designer, he spent a good few months bemoaning the fact that he clearly had a type for kind girls that could kick his ass and were woefully out of his league.

Imagine his surprise – and relief – when he found out they were the same person.

"Are you really going to sleep the whole day away?" He went on. "We've got places to go, people to see."

Marinette slept on, oblivious to Adrien's attempts to rouse her.

"Come on, Princess," he coaxed. "Wake up."

Still, she slumbered on.

"I know how to wake you up," Adrien said, and leant down to press his lips to hers.

Marinette's lips were as soft as ever and normally a kiss was a sure-fire way to wake her. This time, however, Marinette remained unresponsive.

Adrien pulled back just enough to lean his forehead against hers. "Please," he whispered against her lips. "Please, wake up."

He lifted his head to look at the room around them. Shattered glass covered the floor, the last remains of a large, circular window. Debris was strewn all around them, clear signs of the fight that occurred. The remains of butterflies were scattered upon the ground. And even more telling: the prone form of their enemy, Hawk Moth, lying unconscious some metres away from them.

They had won.

And Marinette was sleeping.

They had defeated Hawk Moth. They had taken his miraculous away from him and revealed the man underneath. A painfully familiar man. A man so dear to Adrien that he'd stopped when confronted with the enraged face of his Father. He'd been caught off guard but Marinette protected him, saved him, from what would have been a deadly wound. Then she knocked out his Father for good measure.

And then she fell asleep.

Tikki and Nooroo were on the ground beside them. The latter look exhausted from what Adrien's Father had put him through and Tikki was beside him, uncharacteristically quiet and subdued as she supported the butterfly kwami.

Plagg was perched on Adrien's shoulder, one little paw pressed comfortingly against his Chosen's cheek. "Kid," the kwami said, his voice far softer than Adrien had ever heard it. "You've got to –"

Footsteps sounded behind him and he turned to see Alya and Nino standing there. What were they doing there? _Why_ were they there? How did they know where Hawk Moth's lair was? Were they drawn to the sounds of the fighting?

His thoughts paused long enough for him to notice sirens wailing in the distance and clearly getting closer. Was that the police? Did his friends beat the police there? Was that the paramedics?

" _Adrien_ ," Nino murmured, taking in the scene with a horrified expression.

" _Marinette_ ," Alya choked out, her eyes filling with tears.

"We knew it was you under the masks," Nino said as his friends approached them.

"And we knew that this was it," Alya went on. "The last battle. We – we – knew, so we followed you. We heard all the fighting, so we stayed away because we knew we'd just get in the way. But then it just went _silent_ and –"

Alya cut herself off with a sob and Nino put his arm around her as the pair reached Adrien and Marinette and sank to the floor beside them.

" _Marinette_!" Alya cried. " _Marinette_!"

"Alya and Nino are here," Adrien told his partner. "You need to wake up now, My Lady." He turned to his two friends. "She's just sleeping, but she'll wake up. She's _just sleeping_."

Both Alya and Nino were crying freely, but it was his best friend who responded to him. "Adrien, she's not – she's – she's –"

"No!" Adrien shouted. "She's _just sleeping_! She's going to wake up any second! She's going to wake up and everything is going to be _fine_. Marinette, wake up! You have to wake up! Please, wake up! Don't leave me like this! MY LADY, WAKE UP!"

Was he crying? Were those tears running down his cheeks?

"WAKE UP, PLEASE!"

"Calm down, Adrien," his kwami tried to sooth him. "It's going to be okay."

Tears dipped from his cheeks and splashed onto Marinette's face as he sobbed over her.

"We have to – we have to go," Nino said. "We need to get help."

"I already called," Adrien croaked through his tears. "Can't you hear the sirens?"

The sirens were getting closer and they seemed to be right outside, but they wouldn't get there in time.

Tears blurred Adrien's vision, making it hard to focus on the girl in his lap. He blinked his eyes a couple of times and then studied her.

Marinette was a vision in red. A haunting vision as she bled out from the wound she'd taken in Adrien's place. Where Chat Noir had faltered at seeing his Father's face, Ladybug had stepped up. Taking the blow in his stead, knocking his Father out in the process and freeing Nooroo from Gabriel's clutches.

Then she had collapsed in Chat Noir's arms, her transformation coming undone. Chat had dropped his and desperately tried to stop the bleeding with the white over-shirt Adrien always wore. It was a futile attempt, causing him to desperately call for emergency services.

Marinette had given him a brave smile, reached up with a shaky hand to brush the tears from his eyes and then pulled him down for a kiss. A soft kiss, then a desperate kiss. A last kiss.

She pulled back and said one final thing to him: _"I love you."_

Then her eyes shut and she went still, but it was okay because she was justsleepingjustsleepingjustsleeping _justsleeping_. Adrien held her as she slept. Vowing not to leave her side.

And now, as paramedics and police officers rushed in, he still refused to move.

" _No_!" He cried, as people tried to pull him away from Marinette. "Don't touch me! I'm not leaving her! Marinette! My Lady! Wake up! I love you, just, please, wake up!"

He fought back as he got dragged away. Adrien might have been exhausted from his fight with Hawk Moth – _his Father_ – but he would always fight for Marinette. "NO! LET GO OF ME! LET GO! _MARINETTE_!"

But more people came to drag him away and one injected him with something that made his eyes droop. His last thought before he fell unconscious was that he was supposed to be with Marinette. He was supposed to hold her in his arms. She was supposed to _wake up_. This was all wrong. _Wrongwrongwrong_.

Marinette was beautiful, even in death.

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 **A/N:**

 _I'm sorry for this?_

 _As I said, this is my first ever full-angst fic and normally I don't write it, but I got the idea as I was falling asleep last night and it refused to go away. It was also nice to write because I've been in a bit of a writing slump lately and I feel like this got me out of it._

 _Please let me know what you thought in the reviews!_

 _Much love,_

 _Leisey._


End file.
